Tax preparation software programs (hereinafter referred to as “tax programs”) are available from various vendors that assist users in preparing accurate Federal and/or State income tax returns and other tax forms. These tax programs may guide the user through income, property, sales, or other types of tax return processes for a governmental entity or agency (e.g., Federal, State, county, city, district, or other municipality) step-by-step, and may automatically perform necessary tax preparations in accordance with user-entered data input, forms, schedules, and tax data, tables, and formulas stored with or coded into the program. Personal and/or business tax programs may be provided. In addition, both personal and professional versions of these programs may be offered. Professional versions may be used by tax preparation professionals to prepare various tax returns for multiple customers. Further, these tax programs may be used to prepare annual taxes, quarterly taxes, etc.
Tax programs typically include electronic tax documents (e.g., the various forms, schedules, worksheets, etc. needed to prepare and file tax returns), which may be stored and accessed as electronic documents. For example, Federal tax return documents that may be provided may include, but are not limited to, 1040, 1040A, 1040EZ, 1040NR, and 1040X forms. In addition, various tax forms and schedules for various States may be included. These electronic tax return documents may be graphically presented by the tax program to the tax preparer on a display device (e.g., a computer monitor). Typically, the tax program will provide a user interface with various user interface elements (menus, dialog boxes, etc.) and user-selectable interface items (menu items, buttons, controls, text entry boxes, etc.) whereby the preparer may access the electronic documents as needed and enter and/or modify data on the various tax documents using one or more data entry/cursor control mechanisms, such as a keyboard and mouse. Typically, these electronic documents are presented on the user interface as templates that, when partially or completely filled out, may be “saved” for the particular taxable entity for which the documents are prepared. Typically, the preparer will enter the necessary data and information in the documents via the user interface, and, when finished, access the user interface to direct the tax program to complete the preparation of the tax documents. When this process is finished, and possibly verified, the tax return is complete. The completed tax return may be saved, may be printed, or in some cases may be electronically transferred to one or more specified destinations (e.g., via e-mail or other mechanisms used to electronically transfer data). For example, they may be electronically filed with the appropriate taxing authority.
Instead of or as an alternative to entering the necessary data and information directly into the electronic tax return documents (e.g., directly into a 1040 form), some implementations of tax programs may provide an input mechanism whereby the user inputs the necessary data and information into input fields on data entry displays presented to the user by the tax program. Data and information entered by the user via the input fields may then be automatically transferred into the appropriate locations on the tax return documents. The tax program may perform any necessary calculations using the entered data and information, and possibly data and information from other sources such as previous tax returns, to generate appropriate calculated values for certain fields of the tax return documents.
Some tax programs are configured to import historical tax return information or data for the user (e.g., tax return information or data from a previous year) for use in preparation of a current tax return using a same or different version of the same tax program. Thus, an experienced user of the tax program may find it easy to prepare his or her tax returns year after year using the same tax program. For a new user, however, the tax program process may be confusing and it may be difficult for him or her to know how to begin or what information to enter.